Abortion documentary to be shown at Compassionate Outreach Ministries

Cleveland Tinker @ClevelandTinker

Wednesday

Jun 19, 2019 at 10:54 AM

On the backdrop of women’s reproductive rights being in the news a lot lately because of various abortion laws passed in mostly conservative southern states, an event is being sponsored by a southeast Gainesville church and a family planning nonprofit organization to educate the community about abortion.

At 7 p.m. Friday, Compassionate Outreach Ministries and Sira Gainesville will host the showing of a documentary titled “Maafa 21,” which according to a press released by the organizers of the event says deal with a “deceptive plan that has been systematically utilized for population control specifically to reduce the population of people of color.”

Compassionate is located at 320 SE Bishop Larry J. Dennison (43rd) St.

Minister Rutha Harrison, a member of Compassionate who has been volunteering at Sira for many years after being urged to do so by the late Bishop Larry J. Dennison, said the documentary is being shown to “the church and community to make people aware of the deceptive lie that was created and is still being used today in furthering the genocide of people, especially people of color.”

Harrison said the partnership between Compassionate and Sira began in 2008 when Sira was known as the Women’s Health and Resource Center because Dennison “wanted to help serve and heal the community. The partnership is one of assisting with client advocate volunteering, financial support and prayer to God for continued growth and success in providing help for today and hope for tomorrow.”

Located at 912 NW 13th St., Sira offers pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections testing, ultrasounds, sexual risk avoidance programs, family integrity training classes, post abortion counseling and education for men and women, sexual health and restoration education for men and women and women’s wellness physicals for those who qualify, said Katherine Gratto, executive director of Sira.

Gratto said family integrity training classes teach participants how to deal with parenting, budgeting, decision making, coping with grief and loss and anger management issues.

Walk-ins are welcome, but it’s preferred that people make appointments to make sure someone is available to deal with the issues the client wants to address, Gratto said.

Sira was chosen as the name of the organization because it’s the name of a river in fiction and in Norway, Gratto said.

“That symbolism depicts the way help and hope flow from us to our clients,” Gratto said. “Our logo depicts two waves intersecting. One represents the staff, volunteers and supporters. The other wave represents the clients. The overlapping area shows our lives intersecting.”

Gratto said the organization began in 1973, has had several locations and different names and was established in response to the Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that legalized abortion in most cases in the nation.

Sira is funded through donations by individuals, businesses and churches, including Compassionate Outreach Ministries and beginning this year, Springhill Baptist Church as well, Gratto said.

“Our mission is to compassionately reach women and men in our community with help for today and hope for tomorrow and to provide a place of no judgement, and encouragement and truth through the services we offer,” Gratto said.